Despite being in the industry for six years and being a natural born performer, the former Fifth Harmony singer is having to figure things out all over again. In a cover story with PAPER magazine, Normani dished on her journey as a solo artist, from dealing with racist comments to her new trek through self-discovery.

“It changed my life forever… We had to start over completely,” she noted of her family’s move to Houston after losing their home to Hurricane Katrina, a move that influenced her music in many ways. Sparking comparisons to Beyoncé, a fellow Houston-grown star, Normani has learned to love herself and overcome hate from racist trolls online.

“My parents told me that I'm beautiful and I should, as I've always felt, feel beautiful to be a black woman,” she explained, later opening up about how different her experience was as the only black woman in Fifth Harmony. “I always felt that I had to work, and still have to work, twice as hard to prove myself.”